WHEN it comes to watching wildlife, I have to admit I'm not much of a bird watcher.

I usually rely on a couple of my rather keen bird watcher friends to point things out for me. If left to my own devices, I would probably walk past all, but the most obvious bird life.

I have often wondered why as they can be some of the most visually spectacular and fascinating wildlife around us. The enthusiasm of my friends over the years has slowly started to get to me and I even invested in a good pair of binoculars a few years ago with the specific aim of getting more into bird life.

Still, plonking myself down on a nature reserve with the specific aim of watching birds has not yet occurred, while 'all nighters' watching mammals and crack of dawn reptile stakeouts have certainly been on the cards. However, the recent spate of good weather got me into watching birds in my garden and I think at last I'm starting to get a little bit hooked.

The thing is, I've don't have a really big garden and probably the most interesting species that visits my garden is a little family of bullfinches that appear to have taken a fancy to my hawthorn bush.

The real drama was taking place a couple of hundred metres above my garden though.

Lying back on a deckchair and peering up into sky with my binoculars I entered a different world.

Circling above my head were the usual scavengers, gulls and crows, but every so often these birds would become boisterous and agitated and then I'd spot the raptors. (A raptor is the family name given to birds of prey and not the prehistoric beasts made famous by the film Jurassic Park.)

Sometimes announcing their presence with a shrill call was probably the most common and largest, the buzzard.

They are a really common sight, circling our skies these days and are magnificent to watch.

Then, somewhat amazingly as I was looking up, a peregrine falcon came into view.

I have never seen one of these before other than in a zoo, but there soaring over my head on its long tapered wings was a peregrine in Stourport. I watched it for a while until it vanished from view.

By now, I was getting quite hooked so I spent some more time out in the garden on my raptor watch.

As well as a rather nice buzzard who seemed just as keen to watch me (buzzards feed on carrion and perhaps it was a little interested in my state of health lying out there on my deckchair), I spotted a sparrow hawk who folded back its wings and entered into a breathtaking and superbly fast dive.

With the summer months not far away now, I can see myself engaging in a bit more of this garden bird watching, especially with the expected arrival of the swifts and swallows to further spice up the aerial drama.